Alline+Brown

On March 10, 1929, 18-year-old Alline Brown, nee Lavell, died in Chicago from a criminal abortion. The culprit was never identified or brought to justice. She left behind her husband, Arthur.

Alline, born in Springfield, Illinois, was a Black woman employed as a maid. Her parents, E. D. and Emma (Johnson) Lavell were from Kentucky and Indiana, respectively.

Keep in mind that things that things we take for granted, like antibiotics and blood banks, were still in the future. For more about abortion in this era, see [|Abortion in the 1920s].

During the first two thirds of the 20th Century, while abortion was still illegal, there was a massive drop in maternal mortality, including mortality from abortion. Most researches attribute this plunge to improvements in public health and hygiene, the development of blood transfusion techniques, and the introduction of antibiotics. Learn more [|here].  Source:


 * [|Homicide in Chicago Interactive]
 * Cook County Death Index

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